Antithetical Arts: On The Ancient Quarrel Between Literature And Music

Paperback | April 1, 2011

Antithetical Arts constitutes a defence of musical formalism against those who would put literary interpretations on the absolute music canon. In Part I, the historical origins of both the literary interpretation of absolute music and musical formalism are laid out. In Part II, specificattempts to put literary interpretations on various works of the absolute music canon are examined and criticized. Finally, in Part III, the question is raised as to what the human significance of absolute music is, if it does not lie in its representational or narrative content. The answer isthat, as yet, philosophy has no answer, and that the question should be considered an important one for philosophers of art to consider, and to try to answer without appeal to representational or narrative content.

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Antithetical Arts constitutes a defence of musical formalism against those who would put literary interpretations on the absolute music canon. In Part I, the historical origins of both the literary interpretation of absolute music and musical formalism are laid out. In Part II, specificattempts to put literary interpretations on vari...

Peter Kivy is Professor of Philosophy at Rutgers University, New Jersey. His field of specialization is aesthetics and the philosophy of art.

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Table of Contents

PrefacePart I: The Founding of Formalism1. First the Music, and then the Words2. Designs a la Grecque3. Body and SoulPart II: The Fortunes of Formalism4. Mood and Music5. Persona Non Grata6. Action and Agency7. Shostakovich's Secret?Part III: The Fate of Formalism8. The Failure of Formalism and the Failure of its Foes9. Attention, Ritual, and the Additive Strategy10. Musical Morality11. Empty Pleasure to the EarBIBLIOGRAPHY

Editorial Reviews

"Kivy's book is written in an extraordinarily clear and lucid style. There is a little surprise, an unexpected or witty observation, a new turn of the argument waiting at every other turn of the page. Furthermore, one might even say that Kivy's prose has a distinctive musical flavor to it...It also has many instructuve historical details on the long debate about how to understand music... Although it is difficult to imagine a narrativist being much impressed by Kivy's arguments, all of them should read this wonderful book. Like music, it can be a source of great pleasure and insight tothe reader." --Peter Rinderle, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews 15/09/2009